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We’re standing in the engine dyno room, watching through roughly a foot of safety glass as the Audi RS 7’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 holds near redline. Its exhaust, from manifold to mufflers, glows a bright orange with heat, and the sheer capability of Audi’s powertrain engineering sinks in.

As the carbon monoxide alarm lights flash, Jürgen Koenigstedt watches the tortuous display with a grin. The chief of Audi V-8 and V-10 development, he’s responsible for the incredible 8700-rpm 5.2-liter mill employed in the R8. This V-8 is also his handiwork, and it eclipses that 10-cylinder in both power (560 hp) and torque (516 lb-ft).

It’s an unassuming square hunk of aluminum, this V-8, with the turbos and air-to-water intercoolers tucked neatly in the vee and hidden beneath a heat-shielded cover. Two black intake pipes snake out from there, each hugging the front of the engine and making tight, 90-degree turns to the cylinder heads. The compactness of this setup minimizes lag and improves throttle response. It’s also slightly undersquare and direct-injected, boasting 17.4 psi max boost and a 10.1:1 compression ratio.
Oh, and the engine can run in 2.0-liter V-4 mode, using active engine and transmission mounts to eliminate unwanted vibrations. Resulting fuel economy is 19/26 mpg city/highway, meaning it doesn’t incur a gas guzzler tax.

Of course, this 4.0-liter comes with a car wrapped around it, made of steel and about 20 percent aluminum. It’s called the RS 7 – the number indicating the car on which it’s based (the A7), and the letters denoting that it is indeed really fast. And after logging 500 miles in one in Germany, we can verify that.

How fast? Audi claims an electronically limited top speed ranging from 174 mph to 190 mph, depending on options (Our car was able to reach an indicated 192 mph on an empty stretch of autobahn), and 0-60 mph acceleration in 3.7 seconds. Considering the heavier and less-powerful S8 reached 60 mph in 3.5 seconds in our testing, Audi is likely being coy.

And, oh, how it generates that speed. No matter the gear, rolling into the throttle produces all kinds of wonderful g forces that press you into the seat. The sound from the optional Sport Exhaust, represented by the black exhaust finishers, grows deeper as the tach needle rises, from a soft growl to a bellow that can make your forget it’s turbocharged. Lifting abruptly off the throttle causes a small group of loud backfires that sound cool, but aren’t great for fuel economy. The torque range is so broad and dense, it can lead you to believe the RS 7 could get away with a three-speed.

Like the S8, it actually employs an eight-speed automatic. (The S7’s twin-clutch can’t handle the torque.) It transmits power to a Torsen center differential biased 60 percent rearward. Torque distribution can vary from as much as 85 percent rear to 70 percent front, and Audi’s mechanical torque-vectoring rear differential is standard.

Our tester looked stunning. Outfitted with the optional cast 21-inch wheels (the 20-inch base set is forged), 16.5-inch carbon ceramic brakes, and matte grey paint, it turned heads wherever it went, its large, audacious Quattro logo proudly showing in the lower fascia (a no-cost option when adding the Matte Aluminum or Carbon Optic Packages). Those massive ceramic brakes save 22 pounds, though they won’t be available in the U.S. likely until next year. Pedal modulation and stopping power was impressive in our impromptu autobahn test cycle, which involved repeated braking from above 120 mph. We experienced little fade.

We also had the optional Dynamic Steering, which adds a variable ratio rack. We preferred its Comfort setting to Dynamic, which increased effort off-center to no discernible benefit. The lightness of Comfort seemed to match the wheel’s precision.
That’s just one of the options in Drive Select system, by the way. When fully outfitted, like our tester, there are about seven parameters, each with three options, that you can adjust. (Some examples: steering effort, throttle sensitivity, exhaust loudness, rear differential, seatbelt pre tensioners, and so on.) It is a bit of overkill, but fortunately, you can customize one “Individual” preset and forget it, and the car will start in that mode when turned off in that mode.

Our car was also outfitted with Dynamic Roll Control (available late this year), which replaces the standard air springs, and adaptive, driver-adjustable dampers with fixed springs and different shocks. These shocks are connected right front to left rear and vice-versa, and adjust damping rate to minimize pitch and roll. The system is very effective, as the RS 7 exhibits little perceivable body movements during cornering. The downside is that the fixed-rate springs are set rather aggressively, and every road impact, though well-controlled, can be felt in the cabin.

This active anti-roll system does seem a strange option for the RS 7, which wants to be driven like the large, fast luxury cruiser it is. It’s not that it doesn’t like corners, but you’re always aware of the car’s size and considerable 4500-pound estimated weight. That’s about par for the German coupe-styled sedan course, though slightly more than the M6 Grand Coupe and current CLS 63 AMG because of the RS 7’s all-wheel drive. (The 2014 CLS 63 will offer all-wheel drive.) Nevertheless, the Audi edges both of them in fuel economy.

That’s peculiar, because the RS-7 is heavier and more powerful. Back on the engine dyno, that’s precisely what sank in while we watched the 4.0-liter turn orange and scream. Later we learned that one of the bigger hurdles in increasing the power to a level appropriate for an RS was that the A7’s engine bay doesn’t allow enough room for two airboxes, like the S8 has. So Audi had to make do with the restricted airflow from one.

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